Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi billionaire who is Citigroup Inc's biggest individual investor, agreed to buy a $319 million Airbus SAS A380 superjumbo (seen in picture), becoming the first private customer for the world's biggest aircraft.
The purchase was announced by Toulouse, France-based Airbus at the Dubai Air Show today. Alwaleed, ranked the world's 13th-richest person by Forbes magazine, flew in from Saudi Arabia on his Boeing 747.
Who is this dude?
- As of 2007, his net worth is estimated at $20.3 billion and he is ranked by Forbes as the 13th richest person in the world, and the richest Arab. He has been nicknamed by Time magazine as the Arabian Warren Buffett.
- Al-Walid completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at Menlo College in 1979 and a Masters in Social Science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University, in 1985. He was also awarded an honorary PhD from the University of Exeter.
- He is the owner of the Kingdom Holding Company (not to be confused with Big Brother and his)
- After the 9/11 attacks, Al-Walid suggested that the attacks were an indication that the United States 'should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stand toward the Palestinian cause', Giuliani asserted, Giuliani subsequently rejected the prince's $10 million donation to disaster relief in the aftermath of the attack.
- As of 2007, he was believed to be in talks with Robert Earl, founder of Planet Hollywood, about taking a controlling stake in the English Premier League's Everton FC
